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China Testing Waters

Defections plague Yemeni leader

President Saleh faces increasing isolation after wave of military and political figures support pro-democracy uprising.

UN Approves Military Force Against Gaddafi Forces

The United Nations Security Council has approved military strikes on Libyan air defenses, a move following weeks of talks led by France, Britain and the United States to mobilize the international community to take action against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, which is engaged in armed conflict with rebels.

Massive and Deadly Radiation a Reasonable Fear

Technology is old, and Japanese population do not trust authorities reports of damage

Crisis in Japan: Video of Fires, Landslides, Stranded People

• John Moore / Getty Images

Strikes on Ras Lanuf in Libya create an impasse on the eastern front

Posted By: Bryan Chan

Posted On: 9:27 a.m. | March 9, 2011

Fighting continues in Libya where, on Tuesday, government aircraft launched several airstrikes on Ras Lanuf, and hospital officials said at least 20 people were injured. Combined with tanks and artillery backing government forces about 30 miles west of the port city, the warplanes have halted the rebels’ advance toward Tripoli, the capital. The attacks appear designed to pin down rebels and… View Post»

Muslim-Christian clashes in the Egyptian capital Cairo have killed 11 people and wounded more than 90, security and hospital officials said on Wednesday.

The clashes broke out Tuesday night when a Muslim mob attacked thousands of Christians protesting against the burning of a Cairo church last week. Muslims torched the church amid an escalation of tensions between the two religious groups over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple’s families.

 

The officials said Wednesday that the killed were six Christians and five Muslims, all died from gunshot wounds. They said 94 people were wounded – 73 Muslims and 21 Christians.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The clashes added to a sense of ongoing chaos in Egypt after the momentous 18-day democracy uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11. The uprising left a security vacuum when police have pulled out from Cairo and several other cities three days into the uprising.

Cocoa futures have broken 30-year highs since a disputed election in November that has triggered a power struggle between Gbagbo and rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, who is internationally recognised to have won the vote.

Ouattara had earlier called for a month-long ban on cocoa exports in an attempt to cut off a key revenue generator for Gbagbo, who refused to cede power in the face of mounting international pressure.

Under the new Gbagbo decree, the state would purchase cocoa beans from farmers at a price determined by it and would then seek to get it to world markets, replacing the role of exporters who have widely followed a call by Ouattara to suspend supplies.

Cocoa supplies have been strangled by a combination of sanctions and the near-collapse of the local banking system, jeopardising a lucrative source of revenues for Gbagbo, who needs to ensure payment of army and public sector salaries to remain in power.

US Defense Chief Apologizes Over Afghans Killed in Strike

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates apologized for the killing of Afghan boys by American forces after talks with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.

Video: Gates: US Should Stay Involved in Afghanistan The Associated Press

Why is Robert Gates making a surprise visit to Afghanistan? Christian Science Monitor

Gates Apologizes for Afghan Civilian Deaths Voice of America

France’s Chirac goes on trial for corruption

Jacques Chirac becomes the first former French president to go before a judge when his month-long trial for corruption during his time as mayor of Paris in the 1990s begins on Monday.

Chirac, 78 and one of France’s most popular political figures despite the charges, stands accused of using public money to pay people working for his party while he was mayor of Paris, a post he held from 1977 to 1995.

He enjoyed immunity from prosecution as president from 1995 to 2007, but the case, which has already seen current Foreign Minister Alain Juppe convicted, has finally caught up with the former head of state.

The case could promptly grind to a halt, however, if a lawyer working for one of Chirac’s co-defendants succeeds in getting a procedural matter referred upwards to France’s constitutional court.

Chirac, best known internationally for his opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, has denied any knowledge of corrupt payments and his lawyers accuse magistrates of harbouring a hidden political agenda.

He has been linked to a series of corruption scandals but never convicted. If found guilty, Chirac faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of 150,000 euros ($210,000) on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust.

 

Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara resigned Sunday after having accepted illegal political donations. It was another blow to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has only 20 percent support in the polls now.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, center, walks out after his press conference to announce his resignation from the post at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, Sunday, March 6. Mr. Maehara said he is stepping down over accepting a political donation from a foreigner, which is illegal in Japan.

Junji Kurokawa/AP

China cracks down on foreigners

A Chinese policeman checks the identity of a foreign journalist, right, near the Xidan shopping district, one of two sites designated on an Internet call for protest in Beijing Sunday, March 6, 2011. Beijing is increasing its controls on foreign journalists amid calls on the Internet for anti-government protests styled on those rocking the Middle East and North Africa. (AP Photo)

Saudi Arabia bans public protest

Ruling by senior clerical council follows two weeks of Shia demonstrations and 22 arrests

The FAO Food Price Index – a measure of basic food prices at the international level – averaged 236 points in February, up 2.2 per cent from January, the highest record in real and nominal terms, since the Rome-based agency started monitoring prices in 1990.

UN urges mass evacuation of thousands fleeing Libya

GENEVA—The UN refugee agency and an international migrant group issued an urgent appeal Tuesday for the mass evacuation of tens of thousands of people fleeing into Tunisia from strife-torn Libya.

“The International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are urgently appealing to governments for a massive humanitarian evacuation of tens of thousands of Egyptians and other third country nationals who have fled into Tunisia from Libya,” the two agencies said in a statement.

They noted that more than 75,000 people have crossed the Tunisian border since February 19, and that some 40,000 more are waiting on the Libyan side of the border to enter the neighbouring north African state.

“The two organizations deem this operation essential as the overcrowding at the border worsens by the hour,” they said.

The two agencies added that they have set up a humanitarian evacuation programme, but needed governments to provide “massive financial and logistics” aid, including planes, boats and experts.

Earlier Tuesday, the UNHCR warned that the situation on Libya’s border with Tunisia was reaching crisis point, stressing that tens of thousands were stuck and awaiting onward transportation to ferry them to other cities.

“It’s critically important that this onward transport becomes available to avoid the crisis,” stressed Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the UNHCR.

The spokeswoman also expressed concern that some waiting at the border to cross had been in the queue for as long as three days and that sub-Saharan Africans were in particular not being allowed into Tunisia.

“We’re very concerned that racism could be a factor” blocking the exit of sub-Saharan Africans,” she said.

“All borders, land, air and sea should be opened in a non-discriminatory manner. Anyone who needs to flee should be able to flee,” she added.

Meanwhile, at the Libyan border with Egypt, 69,000 people have crossed since February 19.

Many are Egyptians and have been transported to other cities across the country, with only 3,000 still awaiting transport, UNHCR said.

A violent backlash unleashed by Moammar Gadhafi’s regime against protestors has sparked a mass exodus from the country, mainly of migrant workers

Worldwide Pressure on Gadafi Tightens

 

• Libya’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dabbashi on Gadhafi: “No one loves him”
• It’s not clear who the opposition leaders are
• Situation in Misrata stable
• U.S. weighing whether to cut diplomatic ties with Libya

 

Large numbers of police officers were deployed to stop the rallies, which resemble pro-democracy movements in the Middle East and North Africa.

Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police aggressively pushed away foreign reporters with cameras and briefly detained several.

Police blew shrill whistles nonstop to keep protesters from coming close to the People’s Square in Shanghai. Water trucks, which are used to clean streets, have been brought out and police is using this as an excuse to prevent any gatherings.

US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman on Monday condemned the harassment, detention and beating of some foreign reporters, who sought to cover the protests.

The campaigners behind the “Jasmine rallies” — a reference to the “Jasmine revolution” in Tunisia that sparked Islamic Awakening across the Arab world — said their movement had support in dozens of cities.

According to a newly created Facebook page called “Chinese Jasmine Revolution,” organizers have called for another round of protests this Sunday.

Online protest appeals have urged citizens to gather for subtle “strolling” demonstrations each Sunday in cities across China to highlight public anger with the government.

Analysts believe that the recurrence of the Sunday rallies would provide an opportunity for Chinese Muslims to set objectives for the popular movement by joining the protests.

The U.S. military deployed naval and air units near Libya, and the West moved to send its first concrete aid to Libya’s rebellion in the east of the country, hoping to give it the momentum to oust Moammar Gadhafi. But the Libyan leader’s regime clamped down in its stronghold in the capital and appeared to be maneuvering to strike opposition-held cities.

In Washington, Defense Department spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the naval and air forces were deployed to have flexibility as Pentagon planners worked on contingency plans, but did not elaborate. The U.S. has a regular military presence in the Mediterranean Sea.

The European Union slapped an arms embargo, visa ban and other sanctions on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, as British Prime Minister David Cameron told British lawmakers Monday he is working with allies on a plan to establish a military no-fly zone over Libya, since “we do not in any way rule out the use of military assets” to deal with Gadhafi’s embattled regime.

Men sit with their luggage while waiting for a bus to a displacement camp after fleeing Libya on February 27, 2011 in Ras Jdir, Tunisia. As fighting continues in and around the Libyan capital of Tripoli, tens of thousands of guest workers from Egypt, Tunisia and other countries are fleeing to the border of Tunisia to escape the violence. The situation is quickly turning into a humanitarian emergency as fledgling Tunisia is overwhelmed with the migrant workers. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to fight to the end.

Red Cross spokesman Joe Lowry, at the scene, told Sky News the situation was becoming increasingly chaotic.

“For past 12 hours, there has been a severe crush on the border, in the no-man’s land between the two countries,” he said.

 

2:40pm UK, Monday February 28, 2011

Libya: Exodus Sparks Humanitarian Fears

There are fears of a mounting humanitarian crisis as the violence in Libya forces thousands of refugees to flee the country.

Video: Sky’s Tim Marshall on the Libya-Tunisia border

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have left Libya in the past week and the Red Cross estimates around 1,000 refugees are arriving on Tunisia’s border every hour.

Red Cross spokesman Joe Lowry, at the scene, told Sky News the situation was becoming increasingly chaotic.

“For past 12 hours, there has been a severe crush on the border, in the no-man’s land between the two countries,” he said.

Red Cross Spokesman: ‘We’re Working Flat Out’

Mr Lowry added: “There are around 2,500 people clamouring to get through.

“They are mainly Egyptian workers, but we have also spoken to people from Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Ghana, Mali and Mauritania.

“It’s a very tense situation and we have been working flat out to try to get aid to people.”

Sky News’ foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall, also at the border, added: “The Red Cross puts the number of people at around 2,500, but I think it has now swelled to 4,000.

“Thousands of people are stuck between the two borders and thousands more are coming in behind them.

“They are pretty angry because when they get here they are getting very little help.”

An aircraft was shot down while it was firing on the local radio station. Protesters captured its crew,” one witness told Reuters.

“Fighting to control the military air base (near Misrata) started on Sunday night and is still going on.

“Gaddafi’s forces control only a small part of the base. Protesters control a large part of this base where there is ammunition. Misrata is still under the control of the protesters.”

It comes after anti-Gaddafi forces at the weekend seized the key city of Zawiyah, just 30 miles from Tripoli.

The rebels claim around 2,000 troops loyal to the Libyan leader are surrounding the city and expect a counter-attack at any moment.

There are also reports of around 300 people protesting in eastern Tripoli.

Security forces are said to be heading to the scene of the march in the district of Tajoura, raising the possibility of a new confrontation, according to Reuters.

 

Libyan revolutionaries are the new “Lions of the Desert”

Breaking Dispatch From Inside Tripoli 2/27/2011 UPDATED [VIDEO]

Ok I finally got through to my older bro in Libya.

Up to this date 27/02/11 Sirt, Sebha, Tripoli and unconfirmed but also Kufra are still not liberated.

Aid has been getting through from Egypt, other countries like Qatar.

COMMENTS

TRANSLATION @JazzThrowOut Yesterday a plane landed with 2000 Kalashnikovs and 18 million dinars in our city, to act as a bribe in order to verify gaddafi’s report that the city of Kufra? is under his control. We say that we are with the youth of feb17, and have siezed the plane’s ammunitions and distributed the kalashnikovs to the youth and have placed the money

chaabanman

 

UN debates steps against Gaddafi

The UN Security Council gathers to consider action against Colonel Gaddafi’s government over its attempts to put down an uprising.

Libya revolt

The UN Security Council is gathering in New York to consider action against Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya.

A draft resolution before it calls for an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze in response to its attempts to put down an uprising.

There is also a proposal to refer Colonel Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

The UN estimates more than 1,000 people have died in the 10-day-old revolt.

The draft resolution before the Security Council is backed by Britain, France, Germany and the US.

The US has already imposed sanctions against Libya.

 

control of the oil-rich North African country’s eastern areas, anti-Gadhafi forces reportedly took control of the city of Zawiya, just 30 miles west of the capital.

Col. Gadhafi, in another characteristically rambling speech Thursday, acknowledged sustained fighting in Zawiya and described young protesters across Libya as drug-addled disciples of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. “It is clear now,” Col. Gadhafi said in the speech, phoned in to a news program. “Those who recruited our children are al-Qaida. It is bin Laden, otherwise known as international terror.”

Afghan government investigators have told the BBC that 65 civilians, including 50 women and children, were killed in a Nato operation last week.

But the Nato force, Isaf, says its initial findings show that no civilians were killed in Kunar province.

It said more than 30 insurgents died in an overnight raid in the area.

On Sunday, the provincial governor said civilians had been killed in recent Nato-led air strikes in a remote mountainous district.

Afghans – from President Hamid Karzai down – believe that in Kunar province, indiscriminate Nato firepower killed 20 women, 29 children, and more than a dozen unarmed men.

Iraq’s prime minister warned his people to boycott a planned anti-government protest scheduled for Friday, saying it was being organized by supporters of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave no proof for his assertion in a nationally televised speech Thursday, which echoed similar statements he’s made blaming terrorists and Saddam loyalists for an array of problems in the country.

His comments were the strongest to date on demonstrations slated to take place across Iraq that have been described as a “Day of Rage” on Facebook and in Internet postings calling for people to take part in the event.

Al-Maliki’s warning was another sign of the worry Iraqi officials feel that the uprisings demanding regime change in many parts of the Middle East will buffet Iraq as well.

At that point the ambassador from Libya who was here in Malta was called in to take part in the negotiations on whether or not they were going to allow this plane to land. “As he entered the talks it became clear from the pilots that Ayse Gaddhafi, Muammar Gaddhafi’s only daughter, was aboard the plane. The government said it was an unscheduled flight, it doesn’t matter who is on board; they said it cannot land and diverted the plane back to Libya.”

Libyans reacted with anger and derision to Colonel Gaddafi’s defiant speech. They fear he’s out to destroy the country before he’s finally deposed.

There are reports that some forces loyal to the Libyan leader, possibly foreign mercenaries, have attacked an airbase in the east of the country.

But apart from that, he’s lost complete control of this area, which is now patrolled by local militias. The belief here is that government control is now down to a few pockets, including parts of the capital Tripoli and other strongholds including the southern town of Sabha.

As well as Col Gaddafi’s interior minister, many senior generals have also defected, including General Mahmud, the commander here in the east and a veteran of the 1969 revolution.

Col Gaddafi’s support is down to an inner core, but he’s clearly not going to give up the fight.

Social Media Google has launched a Person Finder page in order to help victims of a powerful earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday reconnect

Bahrain unrest: Thousands join anti-government protest

A Libyan man, Soula al-Balaazi, who said he was an opposition activist, told the network by telephone that Libyan air force warplanes had bombed “some locations in Tripoli.”

He said he was talking from a suburb of Tripoli. No independent verification of the report was immediately available.

The report came as protesters celebrated in the streets of the country’s second largest city Benghazi, claiming they were now in control after days of bloody fighting and after anti-government unrest spread to Tripoli, the capital, for the first time Sunday.

Human Rights Watch said Monday that at least 233 people had been killed since the protests began last week, but opposition groups put the figure much higher. Most were in Benghazi, a region where Gadhafi’s grip has always been weaker than elsewhere in the oil-producing desert nation.

Libya »

Venezuela denies Libya’s Gaddafi en route

Reuters – Saif al-Islam, Andrew Cawthorne

By Frank Jack Daniel CARACAS (Reuters) – The government of President Hugo Chavez denied on Monday reports Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was traveling to Venezuela following violent protests in the fellow OPEC member nation.

Warplanes and Militia Fire on Protesters in Libyan Capital New York Times

Telegraph.co.uk – BBC News – Bloomberg – Aljazeera.net

Pressure mounts on Libyan leader

Col Gaddafi’s regime comes under mounting pressure amid unprecedented protests in the Libyan capital and defections by senior diplomats.

• Mid-East and North Africa unrest Live
• Is Gaddafi doomed? Watch
• Analysis: Crackdown backfires
• EU braces for influx
• In pictures: Protests grip Libya
• Special report: Mid-East protests

Chaotic Violence escalates in Yemen

The Yemeni capital Sana’a experienced its most violent clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators to date on Thursday as protests continued for the seventh consecutive day. Thousands of protesters faced off in a street battle that took place at a major intersection in the city.

Inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, opposition activists have increased calls for Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of 32 years, to step down. Yet Saleh, who has recently made a host of concessions that include a pledge not to seek reelection in 2013, still holds some support in the country. (See photos of clashes in Yemen.)

On Thursday, crowds toppled the iron fences separating the two camps and fought under a constant hail of stones. Members of both sides, wielding sticks, batons and chains, led charges back and forth to the sound of sporadic gunfire. Dozens with head injuries fled the scene for treatment at a nearby hospital.

Security Forces Fire Tear Gas at Protesters in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain – Soldiers fired tear gas and shot heavy weapons into the air as thousands of protest marchers defied a government ban and streamed toward the landmark square that had been the …

 

Cairo: Two Iranian warships withdrew their application to transit the Suez Canal after Israel expressed concerns over the plans, a canal official said on Thursday. The official said no reason was given for the decision to withdraw the application. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, also said it was not known if the vessels intended to transit the waterway at a later date. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman claimed on Wednesday that Iran was about to send two warships through the Suez Canal for the first time in years, calling it a “provocation”.

Libya latest casualty of Arab world unrest, protesters target Gaddafi

read more Indian Express

Hundreds of Libyans calling for the government’s ouster took to the streets early Wednesday in the country’s second-largest city as an Egypt-inspired unrest spread to the country long ruled by Muammar Gaddafi. In a sign that displayed the severity of the unrest that has spread across the Arab world

New study: Stuxnet virus repeatedly targeted Iranian industrial facilities – BBC

Italy’s Berlusconi indicted in prostitution probe

Judge orders Italian prime minister to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office Silvio Berlusconi, who faces up to three years in prison on the juvenile prostitution charge, and up to 12 years on the charge of abusing his official authority.

Berlusconi, who faces up to three years in prison on a charge of paying an underage prostitute, and up to 12 years on a charge of abusing his authority.  Berlusconi heard the news while in Sicily, where he made no comment, but immediately canceled a scheduled press conference and flew back to Rome.

Italy Seeks to Use Forces to Halt Illegal Immigrants From Tunisia

read more Herald Tribune

ROME — Italy’s interior minister said Sunday that the country hoped to send its armed forces to Tunisia to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants, after more than 3,000 Tunisians arrived by boat on an Italian island in recent days. “I will ask Tunisia’s foreign minister for authorization for our forces to intervene.

The UN Security Council is gathering in New York to consider action against Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya.

A draft resolution before it calls for an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze in response to its attempts to put down an uprising.

There is also a proposal to refer Colonel Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

The UN estimates more than 1,000 people have died in the 10-day-old revolt.

The draft resolution before the Security Council is backed by Britain, France, Germany and the US.

The US has already imposed sanctions against Libya.

 

President Obama calls fellow leaders on Egypt